Being Ares: The Vague-Ares of Fate
by Arianwen P.F. Everett
Summary: Episode 2 in the 'Being Ares' series. A crossover between the Xenaverse and 'Being Erica'. Two weeks after 'Being Ares: The Pilot', Ares must deal with the unexpected repercussions of having changed his past, as he moves onto his next session with Dr. Naadiah.
1. Chapter 1

Authoress' Note: This story begins in late June of 2001, approximately two weeks after 'Soul Possession' and 'Being Ares: The Pilot', which took place on the same day.

P.S. While you have to be familiar with Hercules; The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess to read this story, you don't need as much background on 'Being Erica' to follow along. In that series, Erica Strange, a 31-year-old woman living in Toronto in 2009, undergoes the same time travel therapy featured in this story, in order to learn from her regrets over her past choices. While Erica's doctor is Dr. Tom, the therapist featured in 'Being Ares', Dr. Naadiah, appeared in a handful of 'Being Erica' episodes and was once Dr. Tom's therapist and his mentor during the series. In short, 'Being Erica' lends its premise and a few of its characters, but this is first and foremost a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess fanfic.

 **Being Ares:** **The Vague-Ares of Fate**

 **Part** **1**

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

Ares teleported into his apartment in Washington DC with a smile on his lips. He'd just spent the afternoon in Juarez, overseeing a meeting with a corrupt police chief and his contact in MS-13. Usually the police were biddable to the wishes of the gang, but elections were close and things were tense. A carefully timed reign of unguided gunfire set both men on edge, and Ares shielded the cop long enough for him to take down the gang's representative. If it had gone the other way, the cop's body would have been quickly cleaned up by his own men and the gang's protection bribe made a bit stiffer next month, but with the gang-banger dead, war was inevitable. It was a matter of ego and MS-13 had rivals to overawe. The streets of Juarez would run red within a few days, leaving Ares free to work from his place in DC.

Unfortunately that meant paperwork and lots of it. Tossing his leather jacket on the couch, Ares materialized the documents he needed to examine and revise before handing them over to the lobbyists he was meeting tomorrow morning for breakfast. With any luck, the US government would be well stocked with bunker-busters by September 11th, when his biggest move in decades was set to go down. This one was gonna be messy, so Ares consigned himself to staying in and pull an all-nighter.

Over an hour after arriving home, Ares was checking some numbers on his calculator when his front door was kicked in and Xena, that is Annie Day, stalked over to him, her hands on her hips. "Where is Evander?! Hercules knows you know, so just tell me where he is so Gabrielle and I can get back to Los Angeles! I.. Annie, has work tomorrow!"

Ares jumped to his feet, refusing to be cow-towed by the woman he loved, no matter how desperately he wanted her to stay. "As I told Morgan several days ago, I have no idea where my idiot son is! I haven't seen him in decades and I'd be the last person he'd run to in an emergency! Now, I never thought I'd say this, Xena, but get the hell out of my apartment, and tell Jercules to stop sending his ex-girlfriends to harass me about this! I don't know where Evander is!"

"But you remember him, Ares! Hercules has talked with every other god he could think of and none of them remember anything about him even existing, except you! Why?!" Xena continued her inquisition, not budging for an instant at Ares demand for her to leave.

"I don't know what to tell you, Xena. Evander and I never got along. We never 'bonded'; Jercules and Nemesis made sure of that. Where he is is anyone's guess and none of my business!" Ares rebutted, refusing to flat out lie to Xena, but unable to tell her what she wanted to know. How could he explain 'My new therapist sent me back in time so that I could choose not to sleep with Nemesis and prevent Evander ever being born, which I did, so there's no Evander to find.'

No. Ares wasn't justifying what he'd done and he wasn't betraying Dr. Naadiah either. Hercules could chase his tail all he liked and Xena could join him! The goal right now had to be getting Xena off his back on this. Having her angry with him over this would drive her further away, and he couldn't bare that again, not after just getting her back in his life after so many centuries of missing her.

"None of your business? He's your son!" Gabrielle scoffed, not believing what she was hearing.

Suddenly noticing the blonde.. now light brunette, who'd followed Xena past his broken door, Ares burst out laughing. "Son? Son? Funny, when he was a baby, he was Nemesis' child! When he was four, he was Zeus and Hera's grandson! When he was a teenager, he was Hercules' nephew! And when he grew up and left home, he was Eli's stooge until the God of Light abandoned Eli's followers and left them to be slaughtered by another pack of his own faithful! Until Evander falls off the face of the Earth, I'm nobody, a sperm donor at best! Now, suddenly, I'm his father and he's my son, right?! You know what; go to hell, Blondie! According to your scrolls, you've been there before; I'm sure you remember the way!"

Xena sighed, running her hands through her own brown tresses, a habit that had obviously come from Annie. She understood Ares' frustration, but a good man was missing and Hercules was worried sick. That had to come first. Changing tone, Xena shrugged. "Ares…"

Knowing he couldn't explain and that his protests would just widen the rift between them, Ares marched over to his pulverized door and fixed it with a wave of his hand before holding it open for the two women. "I'm sorry I can't help you further, but I don't have any more information about Evander's whereabouts. Now, I too have work to do before tomorrow, so if you please…"

"Ares, we need to figure this out," Xena tried again, fighting for patience. She knew he had a point, but she needed answers.

Before Ares could respond, Gabrielle's movement towards his coffee table caught his eye and he swiftly crossed the room and forcefully snatched the report he'd been reading out of her hands before she saw too much.

"Alright, I've had enough of this! Get out!" Ares bellowed, storming out through his front door and pointing towards the elevator, only to realize a moment later that he was standing in Dr. Naadiah's office, the report still in one hand, while the other hung in midair, gesturing to an elevator that did not exist here.

"Lifetime after lifetime, blonde, brunette, Gabrielle, Mattie.. by the Gods I forgot how insanely annoying she could be!" Ares growled, earning a small chuckle from his therapist. After sending his report back to his desk drawer on Mount Olympus, Ares plopped down into the modern, leather swivel chair across from Dr. Naadiah and took a deep breath to calm himself before they began.

"You could always just tell them what they want to know. With most of my patients, I advise secrecy, but that's because their friends and relatives would think them crazy. You don't have that problem, at least not with Xena or 'Blondie', so why don't you explain it to them?" Dr. Naadiah queried, as she patted the cover of Ares' notebook of regrets with her right index finger.

"Admit to Gabrielle that I'm in therapy?! I'd rather play a few rounds of Russian roulette with a bullet dipped in hind's blood! No offense, Doc, but she'd use it against me; they both would. Besides, there are just some things a god doesn't explain, and speaking of explanations, I was hoping you had one about why my mongrel half brother even remembers Evander when nobody else outside of this office does?" Ares asked, needing an answer to that more than ever. If the demigod were still mortal, he'd kill him for dragging Xena into this. He was already tripping over his own feet with Xena, now Jercules had him tripping over his tongue too.

"Initially I was as surprised as you were, so I did some digging. It seems that a few centuries back Hercules studied under the Druid spirit of wisdom, a boy named Mabon, who taught him the power of illumination," Dr. Naadiah began her explanation, still a bit uneasy about having missed that fact when she'd sent Ares back on his previous regret.

While she'd assured herself that helping a god wouldn't be that different from helping a human being, she'd obviously been wrong. Ares' knowledge about time travel and different states of reality might help move things along in certain ways, but it was now clear to Dr. Naadiah that they were going to make his therapy more challenging in others. Yes, she could shield the gods from discovering that the Ares they were seeing in the past was from the future, but the repercussions of his choices while working on his regrets was far more likely to cause issues once he returned to 2001 than it would be if he were mortal.

"Yeah, yeah, that's where he first met Morgan. Wait, so you're saying that this 'power of illumination' is what's allowing him to remember Evander, despite the shift in timelines? Well, that's just great! Evander wasn't even born and he's still making my life difficult!" Ares grumbled, letting his head fall back to stare at the near-seamless white ceiling of Dr. Naadiah's office.

While Dr. Naadiah couldn't agree more, she knew she had a lesson to teach and admitting her own frustration would be counterproductive. "He doesn't have to be. When you went back in time on your last regret, you still had a right to choose not to have sex with Nemesis; your body was still your body, and as you said before, there are just some things a god doesn't explain. You have a right to your privacy like anyone else, Ares."

"Too bad Xena doesn't see it that way, but Jercules can do no wrong in her eyes and if he says I did something terrible in not manipulating Nemesis into giving me a son, then I must have. Anyway, what's on the agenda today? Where.. when am I going this time?" Ares asked, wanting to leave the chaos of his current life behind. He was extremely familiar with each of his regrets and he knew exactly what he'd change when he got the chance. His half brother could sit and spin. As Dr. Naadiah told him two weeks earlier, this therapy was about him and his choices. Hercules could get his own therapist.

"Actually you were right both times; it's a where and a when, number eight, 'Britannia'," Dr. Naadiah informed Ares, nodding for her patient to fill in the blanks.

"The beginning of the Dahok fiasco. Yikes, how do I explain all that?" Ares asked off the top of his head, not really expecting an answer.

"You begin at the beginning, continue through the middle, and stop at the end," Dr. Naadiah quipped with a smile, hoping the levity would help him sort through his thoughts. Sometimes the details of an event could overwhelm a patient into introspective silence and a good joke was useful in getting them talking again.

Ares considered that before replying with a jest of his own. "Well in this case, the beginning is literally the beginning of everything. Dahok, and his twin brother, Mithra, the God of Light, were.. are the essences of destruction and creation. They were here long before anything else, and are part of everything that lives, gods and humans included. Almost a billion years ago, Gaea, while far less powerful than either of them, got the jump on both while they were busy kicking the crap out of each other, and caged them in alternate dimensions."

"I'm guessing they weren't too happy about that," Dr. Naadiah commented, trying to wrack her brain on what her friends had told her about the character of Dahok in relation to the television series Xena: Warrior Princess. She knew Dahok was an adversary in the series, an uber-god of sorts, but otherwise she had little to go on beyond commentary about how seriously unsatisfying the conclusion to his storyline was in the show's accompanying series, Hercules: the Legendary Journey's.

"That's putting it mildly. Dahok never stopped trying to re-enter our world and take revenge on his little sister's creations, aka us. He nearly succeeded during Chronos' reign, but the Titans banned together and kicked him back to his own realm, which left them too weak to fight my family once Mom and Dad had gotten it in their heads to take over. A little over three thousand years ago, I felt his initial attempts to return, and as the centuries past I tried over and over to unify the gods to oppose him, not just my own kin but gods from other pantheons as well. Unfortunately, they all thought that I was either paranoid or spoiling for a fight and ignored my concerns until Dahok was able to manipulate mortals into believing he offered them peace and used their worship to break through into our world; then, like today, I was suddenly useful again," Ares spat out bitterly, his earlier feeling of insult.

"And why do you think that was? Why do you think the other gods ignored you until it was too late?" Dr. Naadiah questioned impassively. She was loving the history lesson, but also heard her patient's bitter resentment at being used when times got tough, and couldn't let herself get carried along.

"Well, admittedly I'm a trickster by nature, think of it like 'the god who cried ancient demon of destruction'. Nobody believed me when it was true, and even the gods that did see were too terrified to act, so that by the time Xena traveled to Britannia to join Boudicea in fighting Caesar, Dahok already had a temple and a stable band of followers there. Their high priest invited Gabrielle to attend one of their ceremonies, where they tricked her into killing a priestesses. Then using Gabrielle's shock and self-contempt at taking human life for the first time, Dahok briefly managed to break into our world and raped Gabrielle on his alter. A little over a week later, Gabrielle gave birth to a baby girl she named Hope. Physically, Hope was pretty much a carbon copy of Blondie, but underneath the shell she was just a flesh and blood puppet for her father, and eventually, Gabrielle was forced to poison Hope, after her daughter had killed several dozen people, including Xena's son. But that didn't stop Dahok. He resurrected his daughter, and then found a vessel for himself, killing thousands more all over the world, gods and mortals alike. Hercules and his friends eventually sent Dahok back to his realm, but the dead were still dead," Ares finished his lesson with a sigh, catching Dr. Naadiah's attention as she watched the War God struggle with long buried memories and emotions.

"You lost someone important to you in those killing sprees, didn't you?" Dr. Naadiah guessed, and Ares expression in the next moment confirmed her hypothesis.

Ares bid back the dark memories that were flooding him before he spoke again. In his passing Strife had finally managed to do what he'd sought to achieve for most of his life; he left his mark on his favorite uncle, and Ares still missed him two thousand years later. "My nephew, Strife. Hope teamed up with a mortal-turned-psycho-goddess, Callisto, who stabbed him with a dagger coated in hind's blood just so the two of them could test if the stuff could actually kill a god. Strife gave them their answer."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Dr. Naadiah consoled, genuinely touched by the grief written in her patient's eyes.

Ares sniffed in bemusement at how that sounded. Someone other than himself mourning the dead godling seemed almost fantastical to Ares' ears. "It's funny; you're probably the first person, god or mortal, to say that and mean it. Nobody else cared about Strife, alive or dead. I didn't even realize I cared until I was holding his corpse in my arms."

"Well, sometimes we fail to value the people around us, and it takes loosing them to see our mistakes.. but those mistakes are for another session. So, Ares, when you look back at what happened in Britannia, what mistakes do you see there?" Dr. Naadiah continued, wanting to pull her patient back to their current session. 'Strife's Death' was number six on the list, so Ares would have to deal with his regret over that event at some point, but that day had not yet arrived and Dr. Naadiah needed to get them back onto this regret, the one that would hopefully give him insight as to how he should approach his current dilemma with his brother and Xena's interrogations.

"I was too distant in my handling of the situation. I admit, I was afraid of challenging Dahok without the support of the other gods, so I gave Caesar and Xena too much freedom, trusting that they'd eventually get to dealing with the situation once they'd settled their longstanding feud. Xena did eventually destroy the temple, but not before Dahok had gotten hold of Gabrielle," Ares analyzed, letting Dr. Naadiah see his own failing in taking such a hands off approach to such a dangerous situation. Discord had been right; he had treated Dahok's rise too casually, not as casually as most of the gods, but still, he'd been too slow to respond and Strife had paid the price.

"So this time you plan to be more direct?" Dr. Naadiah asked, knowing Ares was genuinely working through his past failures. He was very close, but still missing the point. A few days in the past would teach him what he needed to learn.

"Yes, starting with getting Blondie back to Greece so she'll never set foot inside Dahok's temple. See, Xena and Gabrielle split up when their ship first landed in Britannia, and Gabrielle and Dahok's high priest were captured by Caesar's men as they tried to make their way to Boudicea's camp. Once I get Gabrielle out of Caesar's.. custody, I can send her home and focus my attention on Dahok's cultists. Heck, I might even get Boudicea to blow their temple sky high herself, but regardless of which mortal does the deed, I'm not leaving anything to chance this time," Ares finished, his self assurance returning. Yes, he could prevent Dahok escaping his realm and wage a proxy war on the dark god and his followers wherever they might hide. If Ares had learned anything from the second half of the 20th century, it was how to successfully wage a globalized offensive by using local populations as cannon fodder.

"Well then, let's not waste any time, shall we," Dr. Naadiah concluded before staring at Ares for a second and sending him back into his past.

Settling back into her chair, Dr. Naadiah considered the issue of Hercules' remaining memories and what they could mean for the future of Ares' therapy. What she knew of the relationship between the two half brothers was disquieting, but her goal had to be allowing Ares to make progress towards a healthier viewpoint, day by day, regret by regret. A war with the demigod could derail any progress her patient made in these early journeys into his past, and that was a distinct possibility with so much pain and distrust existing between the two. Realizing she was in over her head, Dr. Naadiah picked up her desk phone and left a message for her mentor, the man who'd brought her into therapy and gave her the opportunity she was now able to offer Ares and the rest of her patients. "Dr. Arthur, this is Naadiah. I'd like to speak with you at your earliest convenience."

As Ares arrived in ancient Britannia, he took a deep breath before opening his eyes, enjoying the lack of chemical fumes in the air. As a god he was sensitive to smells mortals couldn't perceive and a day hadn't gone by in over a century where industrial byproducts, clinging to the Earth's atmosphere, hadn't touched his nostrils. Even in remote areas, far from 21st century technology, there were faint, wind-swept traces. They weren't always unpleasant, but they were a constant reminder of the passage of time and how the world he'd been been born to, the world he and his family had dominated for ions, was no more. Now, for the moment, he was back in that world, and yet not completely. He knew too much to ever be the god he'd been the first time around, even if he wore that god's skin. Whether that change was a good thing or a bad thing, he still wasn't sure, but it was real.

Examining the coastline, Ares could tell by the piled up boats where the mercenary's ship had disgorged its human cargo and watched as the small band of Roman sentries approached. Then he saw a war chariot of Celtic design making a run straight at the Romans, only to have the driver, Boudicea leap off, armed and ready for a fight. The Roman leader made some comment about laurels being lain on his head, and in the next moment, she stepped out from behind a cropping of rocks. His heart melted as he watched her enjoyment at finally getting the opportunity to kicking some Roman butt, and he was transfixed by every single movement, even though he'd watched this skirmish hundreds of times over the centuries. Gods he could watch her fight all day every day for the rest of eternity and never get bored!

Not for the first time Ares contemplated the indisputable fact that she loved war, but could never bring herself to love him. War couldn't make you smile with a joke after a rough day. War couldn't tuck a blanket around you on a cold night. The triumphs of war were brief, while the losses could last a lifetime. Ares understood all of this in the finest of detail; it was part of every cell in his body, and yet somehow Xena had parsed the two and chosen to toss aside the portion of his being that was capable of loving her back. He doubted he would ever understand that.

Another twenty minutes saw the Britons leave the beach with their guests, and Gabrielle and Dahok's high priest find themselves in Roman hands. Now he only needed to wait till Caesar acknowledged that capture and the negotiations could begin.

Admittedly Ares felt a little guilty about leaving out a big chunk of his plans to Dr. Naadiah, but knowing humans, he'd had no other choice if he wanted her to send him back. Caesar was one of the smartest mortals he'd ever met. Xena was smarter, but Caesar could at least hold his own with her, compared to nearly every other player in human history. This meant that he wasn't going to give up Gabrielle, whom he already knew was Xena's closest friend, without getting an equally valuable hostage in return. The agreements Ares had already entered into with the Roman still bound him, so just grabbing Blondie was out of the question. The God of War had not choice but to horse trade and the only other hostage that might tempt Caesar enough was Xena's mother, Cyrene. He'd told his therapist that he was sending Gabrielle back to Greece, and that was true, what he'd held back was where in Greece she'd end up, specifically Amphipolis. After all, somebody had to manage Xena's family inn while Cyrene was being crucified, and Blondie had always been versatile and competent, or she wouldn't have survived so long in Xena's world.

However, the necessity of this move didn't mean he couldn't head to Amphipolis right now and speak with Cyrene about what was about to happen to her. Hopefully she'd be so grateful for the heads up that when her daughter pulled her down from the cross and brought her back to Boudicea's camp, she could explain what was going on and why he'd taken such a drastic move. Sure Xena would still be livid, but maybe a little less so when the truth came out of her mother's own lips.


	2. Chapter 2

Authoress' Note: This story begins in late June of 2001, approximately two weeks after 'Soul Possession' and 'Being Ares: The Pilot', which took place on the same day.

P.S. While you have to be familiar with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess to read this story, you don't need as much background on 'Being Erica' to follow along. In that series, Erica Strange, a 31-year-old woman living in Toronto in 2009, undergoes the same time travel therapy featured in this story, in order to learn from her regrets over her past choices. While Erica's doctor is Dr. Tom, the therapist featured in 'Being Ares', Dr. Naadiah, appeared in a handful of 'Being Erica' episodes and was once Dr. Tom's therapist and his mentor during the series. In short, 'Being Erica' lends its premise and a few of its characters, but this is first and foremost a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess fanfic.

 **Being Ares:** **The Vague-Ares of Fate**

 **Part** **2**

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

When Ares arrived at Cyrene's tavern, the dinner hour was in full swing and the woman was dashing about with full plates and mugs, never sloshing a drop or stopping for a second. He could see where Xena got her gracefulness from in the tavernkeeper's movements and began to wonder what type of warlord the mother might have made in her prime. Certainly she couldn't have been any worse than her husband. Despite Atrius' skill on horseback and with a sword, even Joxer had more common sense and self discipline than the man Cyrene had married. Realistically, she couldn't have been any worse.

Setting aside his ruminations, Ares settled on a plan. First, he had to freeze the room. Like her daughter, Cyrene didn't cower before gods and she would be impatient and unwilling to listen to what he had to say if her business was apt to suffer as a result of taking the time to speak with him. Stopping time cinched that problem right up and gave him leverage. If she wanted to get back to work, she'd have to chat.

Seeing everything stop around her, Cyrene froze of her own volition and scanned the room, her eyes finally stopping on the leather-clad God of War that had tried to have her killed by her own daughter at the temple of the Furies. Not wasting the time-stop, Cyrene placed the dishes and drinks she'd been carrying in front of her unmoving customers, and after calmly wiping her hands on her apron, looked Ares straight in the eye, refusing to be intimidated by his godly tricks. "Well, what do you want?"

"You know, you sounded so much like your daughter just now, I'm almost too creeped out to have this conversation, but to answer your question, I'm here to arrange a prisoner exchange. Caesar has captured Gabrielle and plans to crucify her at first light. Unfortunately, a few years back, I Caesar my word that I wouldn't directly interfere in any of his campaigns, which prevents me from simply busting Blondie out, but if I can offer him someone whose crucifixion would be equally distracting to Xena, he might be willing to bargain for Gabrielle's release," Ares explained succinctly. Xena hated winded speeches and Ares doubted her mother would be any different, especially when she was as busy as she'd been a moment earlier.

"And why do you suddenly care so much about Gabrielle's safety? From what I've seen, it would suit your interests just fine if she died on a cross like a slave," Cyrene questioned, confused as to why Ares was willing to sacrifice someone he barely knew to the savage Roman, but was pulling out all the stops to rescue a young woman he genuinely hated.

Ares bit back a bitter retort about how poorly Gabrielle's crucifixion a few years from now had served his interests. That was one of the draw backs of time travel. You had to curb your tongue, else you could seriously damage the timeline with an offhand comment. "That's my business, and this is not open for discussion. I will be trading you for Gabrielle tonight; however, your courage in dealing with the Furies a while back has earned my respect, which is why I'm giving you a heads up. Pack a bag and change into something warm; Britannia is far colder than you're used to."

"What about my tavern? What about my customers? I can't just up and leave?" Cyrene wailed, biding for time. She wanted to help Gabrielle, but she wasn't a warrior and she had a business to think about. If she left, she might come home to a ransacked shell. At the very least, she'd loose a lot of regulars.

An impish smile lit the War God's handsome features, and Cyrene had to suppress a snort of laughter at such a childlike expression on such a dark and dangerous god's face. "Oh don't worry about that; once I have my deal with Caesar, Gabrielle is going to find herself standing right where you're standing now. Grab a scroll, some ink, and a quill; leave her instructions on caring for your business if it's that important to you. Caesar won't acknowledge his captives until he's done inspecting his men and dealing with the couriers who are bringing him news from Rome, so we have a little over an hour before we have to go. I can wait here till you're ready."

"I'll go to my room and pack," Cyrene nearly growled in resigned indignation knowing she was beaten. If her daughter couldn't dissuade Ares from a chosen path, what hope did she have? All she could do was keep her eyes open for trouble and remain as insignificant as possible. That had always been her trick to surviving. The sole time she'd broken that rule was to protect her daughter's life, and the consequences had lasted decades.

While he genuinely believed the tavern owner was doing as she'd been instructed, Ares kept a sense of Cyrene's whereabouts to ensure she didn't try to run. She was Xena's mom after all, and he'd learned long ago not to assume anything about the love of his life's intentions. That craftiness had to come from somewhere.

However, that didn't mean he couldn't sate his curiosity about something he'd ruminated on as a mortal farmer. Strutting into the kitchen of the inn, Ares easily located the the cook pots and examined the contents of each one. During that week when they'd stayed with him on the farm, helping to cement his new image as a humble farmer, he'd heard Xena and Gabrielle go on and on about Cyrene's magnificent rabbit stew, and how it was such a shame that Ares had been a god for nearly all of Cyrene's life and had never gotten a chance to taste it now that he was mortal. Finding the right pot, he snatched up a bowl and ladled out a serving, grabbing a knot of bread and a simple wooden spoon on the way back into the time-frozen tavern hall.

Before he could seat himself at the sole empty table, Ares noticed Dr. Naadiah standing by the entrance of the tavern, examining the place. While she seemed extremely interested in the detailed decorations and architecture, his mortal therapist paid no mind to the frozen men and women around her, as if she'd witnessed a time freeze before and thought nothing of it. Considering the powers he'd seen her demonstrate in her office, he concluded that she probably had. "Primitive, I know, but nobody knew any better back then, save we gods, of course."

"Having a snack?" Dr. Naadiah questioned as she drew closer to the God of War and gestured towards the bread he was about to dip into the stew.

"When I was mortal, Xena and Blondie mentioned that this had been the best rabbit stew in all of Greece. Those conversations, that week they stayed with me after word had gotten out that I was mortal, those moments were.. are.. very.. important.. to me. The way Xena laughed at my jokes and smiled at me when I finished a project around her grandparent's dilapidated old farmhouse… It was all so… Look, nobody had ever treated me like a real person till Xena came along, and she raved about the stew, so I figured I'd give it a try on her recommendation, that's all," Ares confessed, mixing the stew around in the bowl as he spoke. Talking about his feelings had always been incredibly hard for him, but without the marriage contract, this could be his and Xena's last karmic go-around, and he had to do whatever it took to win a permanent place with her. If giving himself up to Dr. Naadiah's process was the price, he'd give himself whole, no questions asked.

"And yet you intend to hand her mother over to Caesar tonight?" Dr. Naadiah asked neutrally. There was no judgment in her voice, only an attempt to reconcile two ideas that seemed to conflict with one another, and Ares felt the need to clarify. Dr. Naadiah might be mortal, but she had earned his respect.

"Xena is already planning a rescue with Boudicea. In the original timeline, Caesar had Gabrielle tied to the cross, but Xena prevented her legs from being broken and then cut her down, catching her as she fell. Cyrene isn't some wilting violet; she's tough. The worst she'll endure is a good scare and, maybe, some rope burn," Ares detailed, knowing Xena would save the day, just as she always did.

"So Xena will save her mother and take her back to Boudicea's camp, and Gabrielle will be teleported here, to Amphipolis?" Dr. Naadiah reviewed, ensuring she understood her patient's intentions, while allowing him to hear them out loud.

"Right. Cyrene is of no use to Dahok; she's killed before and she's too old to bare a child. Even if Gabrielle left Amphipolis immediately, it would take her over two weeks to reach Britannia, and by that time, Xena and Cyrene will be on her way back, hopefully with Caesar's head stuffed in Argo's saddlebag," Ares smiled broadly, imagining a triumphant Xena, safe and sound, riding home with her mother at her side and Caesar's severed head as a trophy.

"And you don't think this Dahok's followers won't just pick another girl to rape and impregnate once Xena and Cyrene go on their merry way?" Dr. Naadiah rebutted, needing Ares to see that this therapy wasn't about quick fixes.

"Dahok chose Gabrielle himself, and he can't just order his people to grab any fertile village girl who's never taken human life before. He needs to be able to manipulate her into committing murder, into sacrificing her blood innocence within his temple, before he can enter the world and rape her on his alter. Gabrielle is already used to fighting. She already has combat reflexes for Dahok to exploit, which is why she didn't just freeze up the first time around. Finding a healthy, young woman, who has the skills and experience he needs, but hasn't already lost their blood innocence in the course of learning those skills and gaining that experience will take time. That time will be mine as well, and unlike before, I won't waste it playing Olympian politics and armchair quarterbacking two blood rivals more interested in destroying each other than in stopping a threat to all life on Earth," Ares grumbled in his upset with his previous choices, and committed himself to doing whatever was called for to see that things didn't go down the same way as they had before.

Dr. Naadiah saw Ares drifting farther into his plan and she needed to pull him back. All too often, patients saw this therapy as a way to change their past rather than a way to learn from it, and as a new patient, Ares was uniquely susceptible to this misunderstanding. Yes, there were ways to change the details, but Ares needed to work on himself, not the situation, and it was Naadiah's job to get him back on that course. "And why is it all on you, Ares? I mean, the other gods are ignoring the threat, I get that, but surely there are others who'd take Dahok more seriously. Your brother, Hercules, for instance, or Xena…"

"I tried going to Xena! I tried explaining, but she had her head so far up Caesar's ass, she couldn't hear me! She willfully refused to see the danger Dahok posed, and she passed off my warnings as a selfish desire not to have my power usurped by a foreign god! It was only after Dahok raped Gabrielle that Xena understood, but even then she refused every offer I made to help her fight for this world, as if she blamed me for what happened to Blondie because I hadn't been persuasive enough to get her attention in the first place," Ares defended, needing Dr. Naadiah to see his attempts at persuading Xena to recognize Dahok's evil before it was too late had been genuine.

Dr. Naadiah knew her patient wasn't going to like this next suggestion, but he needed to understand the options that he had if he were going to complete this regret. "Ares, you said that, in the end, it was your brother, Hercules…"

"Originally it was, but not this time. Besides, you said it yourself; this therapy isn't about changing other people's past actions, only my own. I need to see this through, my way," Ares insisted, refusing to even dwell on his infuriating half brother. He needed focus now, not rage. If he failed in Britannia, Hercules would get his chance at Dahok two years from now, but Ares was determined not to let it come to that. He knew a lot more about love and sacrifice than he'd known the first time Dahok had attempted to enter the world, and he was sure he could stop the one great evil himself. Xena needed him and he would be her hero this time, whether she chose to acknowledge his contribution or not.

Dr. Naadiah sighed, knowing how very much her patient wanted to be Xena's hero here and now, but that wasn't in the cards. Ares was right. During the Twilight he'd learned much about love and sacrifice, and even more still in the years and centuries that followed. But the Ares of this time didn't understand any of these things, and when her patient returned to the 21st century, the previous Ares wouldn't understand his actions and would be unable to acclimate to his new choices. During his first regret, Ares only had to analyze his motives more closely and act on that analysis, something he could have done had he chosen to the first time around. What Ares was now proposing was drawing from life experience that wouldn't be learned for at least several more decades, and that was against the rules. "What I said was that dissecting other people's choices wasn't part of our work together. Going to Hercules for assistance would still be your choice and…"

"No.. just.. no! I can't! I can't watch him use this situation to push her further away from me! What happened in the original timeline was bad enough, but if I concede that I can't do anything here, that I'm powerless to help Xena in even the slightest detail, Jercules will take full advantage of that failure! You saw how he convinced her and Blondie to hop on a plane to DC and interrogate me about Evander's disappearance! He could have come himself, demanded answers himself, but hey, why waste a golden opportunity to drive an even deeper wedge between me and the only woman I've ever loved? Make no mistake, Dr. Naadiah, that was a preemptive strike to prevent me from apologizing for what happened at the press conference. I fell back on old habits and I tried to manipulate her. I get it, and I'd intended to apologize once Xena had settled into her new life and was ready to hear my apology. Now Jerkules has her believing that I killed my own son, so there goes that plan," Ares sighed with exhaustion. He was so tired of all this damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't bullshit, but he couldn't afford to rest.

"Ares, I know many of your deepest regrets involve your relationship with Xena, and I also know you didn't kill Evander, but that's not what you're here for right now. In my office, you told me that you wished you'd taken more direct action in Britannia, and that you planned on getting Gabrielle out before Dahok could rape her this time. That needs to be your focus," Dr. Naadiah cajoled, understanding Ares frustration, but also knowing that the lesson he needed to learn had nothing to do with Xena, his son, or his brother. It was about how he came to the decisions he made, and right now, he was falling into the same pattern that had led him to make an ass of himself at the press conference several hours before their first session.

"Look, you said it was my choice, and my choice is to trade Cyrene for Gabrielle and then deal with Dahok's cult before the one great evil can pick another girl to violate and carry his soul-less, puppet-spawn," Ares stated firmly, finally digging into the stew he'd been playing with since his therapist's arrival.

He'd barely gotten three spoonfuls into his mouth when he heard Cyrene's footsteps returning to the tavern hall. The middle-aged woman, who now had a bag slung over her shoulder and was wearing a travel coat and a thicker dress, was giving him the hard, assessing glare he'd dreamed about for centuries from her daughter. "Alright, I'm ready."

Turning to introduce Cyrene to Dr. Naadiah, as he figured Xena's mother surely wouldn't miss the motile therapist sitting next to him, he found that she'd already left. Being a god, he was used to this from his family, but on the rare occasion where he ended up on the receiving end with a mortal he'd always found it downright disturbing. Recovering quickly, Ares materialized a ten-dinar piece and tossed it to Cyrene, who caught it expertly before giving him a questioning look. "For the stew. I served myself; it was uncommonly good. I can see why Xena and Blondie enjoy it so much. Now let's get going."

Not mentioning the compliment or the gross over payment, Cyrene merely pointed at her frozen customers and staff. "And them?"

"Oh they'll unfreeze as soon as we leave. Don't worry about it," Ares answered before placing the now empty bowl down on the table, standing up straight, and teleporting the two of them to the high plain where Caesar and his men had made camp.

As Dr. Naadiah was returning to her desk in order to follow her patient's progress and mull over his previous words, a knock on the inside of her seamless white door startled her and she looked up to see her mentor and former therapist, Dr. Arthur. "You wished to see me?"

"Yes, I'm having a bit of an issue with a new patient, Ares, and I need your guidance," Dr. Naadiah began as she watched her mentor take the seat across from her. This man had helped her come out to her family and deal with the consequences of her mother's cruelty and subsequent death. If that were all he'd done, she'd be eternally grateful, but he'd also gotten her to the point where she could help others, help people like Ares who felt trapped and unable to fix their lives, the way she'd felt in her final semester of college when she'd attempted suicide after her girlfriend of two years had left her. The day he'd walked into her hospital room six years ago was indeed the luckiest day of her life.

"Well we knew working with a god would present unique challenges, but he was chosen, so.. what seems to be the problem? Is he resisting the process?" Dr. Arthur asked as he folded his arms and settled in for a long conversation.

"No, no, Ares is very committed and more on track than most new patients in their first few sessions. The problem is his brother, Hercules. Two thousand years ago, shortly before their demise, Hercules studied with the druids and learned the path of illumination, which is enabling him to remember the original threads. Ares first regret involved his decision to manipulate a former goddess, Nemesis, into giving him a son. When Ares made a different choice, and remained on Mount Olympus the night that his son, Evander, was originally conceived, the immortal man the child grew into, who was still alive in 2001, ceased to exist as well," Dr. Naadiah explained, laying it all on the line in the hopes that the two of them might find a door where she was only seeing a brick wall on her own.

"And Hercules has lost contact with him due to the alteration to the timeline, doesn't know why, and is worried about him," Dr. Arthur concluded, beginning to see a very messy situation brewing.

One of his other former patients, who'd been a doctor for nearly a decade now, was a big Renaissance Pictures fan and had happily loaned Dr. Arthur his entire collection of video-taped episodes when his former therapist had briefly mentioned there was a new patient who was involved with the Hercules and Xena TV shows. While Naadiah had declined watching the tapes for background, due to her insistence that she didn't want any preconceived notions about her patient to get in the way of his therapy, Dr. Arthur had been curious and after scouring the internet, had located the episodes Ares played a role in and watched them. He knew who Evander was and that he was close with Hercules, seeing him more as a substitute father than an uncle, and if the relationship between Ares and his brother was even half as bad as the series' depicted, Naadiah had good cause for concern.

"Yes, but it gets worse. He's actively involving other gods, some immortal friends of his, and now Xena and Gabrielle's reincarnations, in searching for his nephew. They broke into Ares' apartment in Washington DC and interrogated him earlier this afternoon. I dragged him out of the situation and he happily went on his next regret, but it's affecting his choices in the past. He refuses to examine viable options out of worry that his new decisions will be used against him once he returns to the present, and I can't promise that they won't be," Dr. Naadiah finished with a sigh. Under normal circumstances, patients lived with the changes they'd made to the timeline and learned from them, but nobody else was supposed to know there had been another reality. Hercules not only knew, he was making Ares' present more difficult for it.

"That is most definitely not good. Ares can't move forward on his regrets if he has to watch his back every time he returns to the here and now," Dr. Arthur stated, trying to tunnel his way around this conundrum.

"And I fear it's causing him to lean on his godhood with his current regret. He's waging a war, not seeking viable solutions to the problems before him," Dr. Naadiah added, worrying about her patient's perspective. Perhaps she should have dealt with the Hercules situation before sending him on his second trip into the past.

"Then he will live with the consequences. You know as well as I do that sometimes repeating mistakes can reveal more to a patient than rectifying things the second time," Dr. Arthur reminded, bolstering his protege's confidence in her course. They were all in uncharted territory offering this therapy to a god, but that didn't necessarily mean Naadiah had taken the wrong path. Even if she had, mistakes were an inevitable part of life's journey, for gods and mortals alike.

Dr. Naadiah nodded thoughtfully, an idea presenting itself with her mentor's words. "And maybe I've been wrong in assuming that Ares needs to completely separate his godhood from his time in therapy. In his previous regret, he told Xena in no uncertain terms that he was born to be the God of War, that it wasn't a choice or a convenient excuse to kill mortals, but a fundamental part of his nature. If so, asking him to work on his regrets solely as a human would is both unethical and completely counterproductive."

"Indeed. Indeed. Okay, how about this; I will give some more thought on the Hercules situation and you will focus on your patient and his current regret. Once he's returned to his present day life, we'll meet back here and confer again. Hopefully we'll have more of a sense of how to proceed," Dr. Arthur proposed as he stood up and moved towards the door to Naadiah's office. He had some contacts he'd generated over the past twenty years he'd been a therapist and they might be able to help him figure out how to proceed with the most well known hero in history who was currently posing as an actor.

"Alright then. I'll see you soon," Dr. Naadiah replied, feeling a bit more confident, despite not having made any firm plans. They were all in motion and doing their best. She had faith they'd figure something out.


	3. Chapter 3

Authoress' Note: This story begins in late June of 2001, approximately two weeks after 'Soul Possession' and 'Being Ares: The Pilot', which took place on the same day.

P.S. While you have to be familiar with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess to read this story, you don't need as much background on 'Being Erica' to follow along. In that series, Erica Strange, a 31-year-old woman living in Toronto in 2009, undergoes the same time travel therapy featured in this story, in order to learn from her regrets over her past choices. While Erica's doctor is Dr. Tom, the therapist featured in 'Being Ares', Dr. Naadiah, appeared in a handful of 'Being Erica' episodes and was once Dr. Tom's therapist and his mentor during the series. In short, 'Being Erica' lends its premise and a few of its characters, but this is first and foremost a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess fanfic.

 **Being Ares:** **The Vague-Ares of Fate**

 **Part** **3**

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

As Gabrielle was dragged out into the cold night air by the manacles Caesar's men had just placed on her wrists, she couldn't help but fight to remain in the tent. She didn't know how Cyrene had gotten here or why Caesar was making a trade when he could have held the both of them, but every fiber of Gabrielle's being was screaming for her to save the older woman who was like a second mother to her. When she heard the self-satisfied voice of Julius Caesar address Cyrene directly, something inside her snapped and she shouted back through the still open tent flap. "You leave her alone! You leave her alone, you Monster!"

Suddenly she felt a firm hand on the back of her neck holding her head firmly in place as a bright, blue light enveloped her. A moment later, she was standing in the middle of Cyrene's tavern hall, and before she'd been released and could turn around, she'd already pieced together who she'd been traded to, if not why. Unadulterated rage flooded the young Amazon, and she spun around, hissing with fury. "Ares!"

"Did I forget to mark my calendar? Is this, 'Mimic Your Kid Day'?" the mischievous God of War quipped, hearing what would have been Hope's voice in Gabrielle's anger. With any luck, this would be the first and last time he ever heard it.

Not comprehending or caring whatever Ares' nonsense words meant, Gabrielle railed at the god before her, never missing her staff more she did at this very moment. "Ares, you take me back to Britannia right now! I don't know what you have against Cyrene, but Xena…"

"Xena and her mother will be fine! You're the one who was in danger! By the gods, how stupid can you be?!" Ares rebutted, cutting off the blonde before she could finish her tirade.

This creature followed every prophet who offered her a vision of peace and prosperity for humankind, without any consideration of whether or not the god they were empowering had any intention of delivering, even long after she'd put Hope's body to the torch for the final time. That whack-job Najara had nearly killed Xena twice. Eli and his peaceniks got the two of them crucified, and Micheal and his winged henchmen nearly sent Xena to reign over hell and then tried to murder Aphrodite. If she ever met a cult she didn't join, Ares was certain his immortal life would come to an end from shock. Of all her annoying qualities, that was the most irritating by far.

The idea that Ares had been attempting to save her from Caesar was preposterous. "What are you talking about? Xena would have saved me and Krafstar from Caesar!"

Ares growled in frustration. Yes, it was unfair to expect her to know the future as he did, but time was of the essence and she was wasting his. "Blondie, Caesar was the least of your worries! Krafstar's god is more evil than you can even imagine and you would have found that out the hard way had I not intervened and gotten you out of Britannia!"

"Evil?! Evil?! From where I'm standing, you're the only evil god involved here!" Gabrielle retorted, running a hand through her hair at the insanity of this conversation.

"I am not evil; I am War! War can enslave, but it can also bring freedom to an enslaved population! War can tear down brutal tyrants as easily as it can end the reign of just rulers! By the gods, Gabrielle, after war, more children are born, more new life created, than ever before! Krafstar's god is the essence of destruction! His plan for mankind is to have you all kill one another down to the very last soul, and for the gods he doesn't murder personally, more of the same! I tried to warn Xena before, but she was too focused on Caesar to care, and Caesar is no better! They're already living Dahok's dream; no wonder they were so useless in destroying the temple! I really messed up big time there, but don't worry, I've learned my lesson! You.. just.. tend Cyrene's inn. She left you a scroll with instructions. Just.. follow them.. or.. don't.. Oh, do whatever you're gonna do. I gotta to," Ares stammered as he realized mid-speech that he was definitely revealing too much. Besides, he really did have a deadline. Yes, Dahok would require time to find a new mother for Hope, but he needed time to find someone in Britannia unafraid to blow up the one great evil's temple and slaughter his priests. Both gods were on a clock.

Upon Ares' departure, Gabrielle spun around in frustration, only to nearly crash into one of Cyrene's waitresses, Josefina. "Oh, Gabrielle, I didn't see you there. Come to think of it, I didn't see you arrive. Anyway, do you know where Cyrene went, cause she was here a few minutes ago and now no one can find her?"

"Ah.. she was unexpectedly pulled away.. and might not be back for some time. Is there something I can help you with?" Gabrielle stuttered, forced to shift gears from hostility to problem-solving in only a few seconds, while still confused by Ares' earlier behavior. Still, there was no way to get word to Xena from here that would reach her before morning, and Cyrene needed a business to return to. Sighing, she consigned herself to an evening of slogging drinks and serving food while she figured out her next move, but first she need to find that scroll Ares had told her about, the one Cyrene had left her instructions on.

A little over two hours later, Gabrielle's entire body ached. This was far worse than a fight with a pack of bandits, or even a warlord's army. No wonder Xena was so gifted at ignoring pain if this was what she'd endured in her teen-aged years along side her mother most evenings. Finally getting a moment's rest, she sat herself down at a table with a stiff drink and tried to unknot some of her muscles manually, waiting for herbs she'd taken from Cyrene's medicine cabinet and her drink to do their work.

Just as her body was beginning to get some ease, she heard her named called and startled. However the moment of pain was quickly replaced with sheer joy and a sense of relief as she stood up and ran into the open arms of her two newest guests. " Hercules! Iolaus! Thank the gods you're here! Ares took Xena's mom to Britannia and handed her over to Caesar! Then he brought me here, had a ranting fit about the virtues of war, and returned to Britannia claiming he was on some mission to stop an evil god! I swear, there was this desperate, crazy look in his eyes! I'm afraid to say this, but I think he's finally lost his mind, and I haven't the slightest idea how to get back to Britannia and warn Xena in time, not to mention rescue Cyrene from Caesar! Please, I need your help!"

"You have it. You'll always have it," Iolaus assured calmly, smiling down at the young woman he certainly had feelings for, but whom he knew was on the same path as himself, just with a different partner. He would never leave Hercules' side and she would never leave Xena's.

"Don't worry, Gabrielle. I think I may have a solution. Aphrodite!" Hercules called out, once he'd considered the options and resigned himself to the fact that his sister was their best bet. Gabrielle was right, they didn't have time to get to Britannia the mortal way.

Just as Hercules was about to try again, only louder, a pink shower of sparkles stopped him. "Hey Bro, where's the fire?! Hephie and I were just taking a moonlight swim, and then whammo, all of a sudden, it's like you're all urgent or something! What gives?"

"I'm.. we're sorry to ruin your evening, but we need a favor," Hercules stated, a part of him still resisting asking a god for help.

Aphrodite looked around to see who constituted the we and then saw Gabrielle standing next to Iolaus. "Ah, okay. I totally understand, and you've come to the right place. The first threesome is always the most difficult to coordinate, so here's a little trick I use to keep everything organized…"

Iolaus and Hercules rolled their eyes, while Gabrielle gawked for a moment, before regaining the power of speech. "I'm sorry, but did she just insinuate…"

"Ah Aphrodite, that's not what we called you for. We need your help with Ares. He's taken Xena's mother to Britannia and handed her over to Caesar, and if we don't get there before first light, Caesar is going to crucify her," Hercules explained, hoping his sister would agree to assist them and not put up too much of a fuss. He knew that things like this tended to bore her, but she did have a good heart when she bothered to use it. Getting her to care was the trick.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes at her younger brother's priorities. "So, mortals die; that's kind of the definition. And I'd like to help, really I would, but Ar gets seriously mean when you get in his way! I really don't want to get on his bad side; he's been grumpy for weeks.. centuries.. forever, and…"

"Who's Dahok?" Gabrielle interrupted suddenly. While she might not know Aphrodite as well as Hercules and Iolaus, one thing she'd learned about the goddess was that she was obsessed with the number of temples and followers she had. Ares might be insane, but he'd sounded deadly serious when he talked about the dangers of Krafstar's god. Gabrielle wasn't sure whether this Dahok was bad news, but she believed Ares thought so, and perhaps he'd been right and she shouldn't have trusted Krafstar so completely on so short an acquaintance. Once she was reunited with Xena and Krafstar, she'd get her proof, but to do that she had to get to Britannia. If this Dahok was perceived as a threat by Aphrodite the way he was by Ares, perhaps he could be used as leverage in obtaining her help.

The ashen color his sister's normally rosy skin had quickly taken on worried Hercules for a moment and he placed a hand under her elbow, lest she start to fall. Whoever this Dahok was, his name alone obviously terrified Aphrodite. "Where did you hear that name?"

"Ares. That was the name of the 'evil god' he claims he was saving me from in Britannia, the one he's gone back to stop," Gabrielle explained, phrasing her explanation to sound innocent, but also to strike as much fear into he goddesses heart as possible. Xena had taught her that imminent danger got people moving like nothing else and it obviously worked on gods as well.

Rather than shrink back more as the three mortals had expected, Aphrodite balled her fists in frustration and stamped both her slippers. "I can't believe, Ar! I can't believe... oh, the stupid, stupid things people do for love! He's gonna get himself killed and for what, Warrior Babe and her mom?! Stupid! Just.. STUPID!"

"Aphrodite, what are you talking about? Ares is a god; he can't be killed," Hercules replied, completely perplexed at his sister's reaction. He could barely wrap his mind around the idea of Ares being killed, much less the other thing she'd said. Perhaps all the gods had gone mad. If so, he and Iolaus were going to be very, very busy soon.

"Not with Dahok locked away in his own realm, no, but if he gets out, even Gaea isn't safe! But if Evil Old Spiny is messing with Warrior Babe, Ar isn't gonna care, and he's gonna get himself killed!" Aphrodite wailed in panic, her anger and frustration having collapsed into abject terror.

"Aphrodite, don't worry. We're gonna fix this! We'll stop Ares from antagonizing this Dahok god, but we have to get to Britannia to do it," Hercules soothed, needing his sister's help but not wanting to hurt her in the process.

Somewhat comforted that she wasn't all the help Ares had at this point, Aphrodite sniffled and wiped her eyes with the lacy handkerchief she kept in between her cleavage. "Okay, but if I send you, you all have to promise not to give Ar a hard time over it. He's trying to do the right thing here. He's just not good at it like you guys are. It's not what the Fates made him to be."

Hercules put his hand on his sister's shoulder and turned her slightly to look him in the eye. "I promise, I won't give Ares a hard time over his attempt to save Gabrielle and Xena from a dangerous god. I can't promise he'll feel the same way, or that it won't come down to a fight, but…"

"He's War, duh, of course it will come to a fight, but just.. don't make fun of him. He's dealing with feelings he doesn't understand and hasn't even admitted to himself yet, and it's making him act all stupid! Just try your best not to let him die. I know you two don't get along, but he's important to me!" Aphrodite affirmed, wanting Hercules to see this not as a chore to reign in Ares but as a favor to save someone his sister cared about.

"Don't worry, Aphrodite, we'll do our best to bring him home safe, we promise," Iolaus chimed in, needing his sometimes-difficult friend to see that they both understood how she felt, even if they had no clue as to why she felt this way about Ares of all people.

"You too, Sweat Pea. If Ar is right and this Dahok was after you, he likely saved your mortal tush back there! You owe him," Aphrodite reminded the Bard who traveled with Xena and Joxer.

"Owe him? Owe him? Are you crazy?! He kidnapped Cyrene and handed her over to Caesar, a monster of a man who crucified her daughter and plans to do the same to her! I owe him nothing!" Gabrielle shot back, not wanting to hear about Ares' delicate feelings. As far as she was concerned, he had none, at least not good ones.

"Now Gabrielle, that's not fair. He did keep Caesar from crucifying you and brought you someplace safe. He didn't have to do that," Iolaus jumped in, hoping to stop Gabrielle from loosing them their ride to Britannia. If Xena and the people of that far off island really were in trouble, they had to help.

"Ya know, I'm a goddess and I don't have to stand here and listen to this ungrateful mortal's gnarly tude! I'll grab Heph and Cupid and we'll go to Britannia and drag Ar's buff butt back to Olympus ourselves! And another thing, he's absolutely right about you, Blondie; you are irritating! I'm outie!" Aphrodite shot back, having too much self respect to put up with the young Amazon's tirade against her confused older brother.

"Don't say it. Don't say it. I know that was stupid, it's just.. gods!" Gabrielle growled, sorry that she ruined her Hercules' plan but unable to make promises she had no intention of keeping. Ares and she were at war for Xena's soul. She wouldn't sell off an advantage that might help her and Xena save lives some day.

Suddenly a snarky voice wafted through the inn before its petite, leather-clad owner made her appearance. "She's not the only goddess who can get you to Britannia, ya know? And unlike the Bimbo, my offer doesn't come with a price or a debt. You want to get to Britannia; all you have to do is ask."

"Why, Discord? What's in it for you?" Hercules asked, coming to stand face to face with the sister he liked least.

"The same thing that's in it for.. what was it they call you.. 'Blondie'? She wants to keep Xena all to herself and I want to keep Ares. Now that we got that all cleared up, do you guys want a lift to Britannia so you can save your friends or not? I haven't got all night!" Discord whined, placing her hands on her hips.

"Sure. Thank you," Hercules responded, not nearly as hot headed as Gabrielle seemed to be tonight. Was this really just jealousy. Did Gabrielle feel threatened by Ares presence in Xena's life? Whatever anyone's reason, Xena, her mother, and the people of Britannia couldn't afford his refusal. He's speak with his young friend later, but if Discord was offering a free trip, he wasn't going to argue his way out of it.

"You all have to ask; Zeus' rules, not mine," Discord reminded the two mortals before her. They could be tedious sometimes, but they had their uses.

After Gabrielle and Iolaus nodded and asked, Discord wasted no time teleporting them all back to Boudicea's camp. Ares was acting way out of character. Only a few weeks ago he was reminding her of the dangers of challenging Dahok and the prudence of employing a mortal to destroy the one great evil's temple. Now he was rushing off to play hero to the Warrior Princess. Yes, Discord knew he had an obsession, but with Ares that was normal. Risking his own hide, that something different, something she couldn't put her finger on, but whatever it was, she would get to the bottom of it.

As the night hid the passing of one day into another, Ares watched the temple Caesar's men held, his mind focused on the task at hand. None of the mercenaries he'd tried to lure away from Boudicea's camp had been willing to destroy the temple. They might not know anything about this god, but they still refused to challenge gods of any sort. Xena and Caesar were a rare breed of mortal, willing to get the job done irregardless of any god's will. Unfortunately, neither saw blowing up this temple as a means to any sort of useful end. At least Blondie was out of the picture and Cyrene would be safe come tomorrow morning. Then maybe Xena might investigate the temple further and learn the truth. Once she did, there was no way Dahok would ever find his way into the world. Ares was sure of that.

"Ar, I'm only gonna say this once! Come home NOW! Warrior Babe is not worth this.. insanity!" Aphrodite insisted, materializing next to her brother, along with her son and husband who stood backing her up.

Ares sighed deeply, knowing he was about to upset two of the few siblings he cared about, and a compassionate nephew to boot, but he had no choice. This was something he had to say. "Yes, she is; she's more than worth it! But this isn't about her. This is about preventing.. so much. I can't explain it; I wish I could, but this god most be stopped and I couldn't bare Xena being the one to make the sacrifice."

"So you're gonna make yourself the sacrifice?! That's insane; not to mention reckless! Think Ares! You're an Olympian, a legitimate son of Zeus! Dahok will take your assault on his temple and his followers as a declaration of war from all of us!" Hephaestus jumped in, now completely convinced of the need to be here. He'd been disappointed at the interruption of his and Dite's night-time swim, and he'd thought his wife was had been exaggerating when she'd told him that Ares planned to take on Dahok directly, but now he saw she'd been underestimating the seriousness of the situation.

Ares knew Hephaestus was right. They were all in the same boat, tied together by blood and fate. His actions, and certain death if he were caught, could indeed spark a war with a far more powerful enemy and only he knew about the Olympian secret weapon his annoying half brother truly was. But it hadn't just been Jercules. Morgan had been there, along with other mortals, like that sexy, sassy pirate. Yeah, she was.. Okay, he needed to focus. No, Hercules hadn't been alone. He was rarely alone. Looking at Aphrodite and Hephaestus and his nephew, he remembered Dr. Naadiah's encouragement to find help. Perhaps this was the key.

A plan began to form in Ares mind, and he instinctively rejected it, which told him it might just be what he needed. It would require tremendous trust, far more than most of his family were worth, but in these three he saw his best chance not to be betrayed. Finally deciding to take a leap of faith, Ares made a loaded cart, pulled by two horses, appear behind him, then unsheathed his sword and forced himself not to chicken out. This was it. This was his moment to trust. "I have a plan, but I'll need your help."

"I'm sorry, Unc, but we are NOT storming that temple with you!" Cupid insisted, placing a hand on his mother's shoulder to show her that he'd protect her, even from her own optimism about Ares.

"You won't have to. You three will just head back to Boudicea's camp with this," Ares stated, flipping his sword to show them what he meant, so they'd catch onto his plan.

"Wait, if you give us that, you'll loose your pow.. oh," Aphrodite began, only to realize what Ares was proposing.

"I'll loose my powers. I'll be mortal, but it's only as a mortal that I have a shot at succeeding. Dahok is still too far from this realm to track individual mortals without employing his high level priests and priestesses eyes and ears. Even in mortal form I can silently take out Caesar's B-squad at the temple, douse the place with greek fire, and dump the bodies in my cart. By the time the One Great Evil's stooges find their temple unguarded tomorrow morning, they'll head inside to pray, and after the doors are locked, I'll barricade the exit from the outside with a few more barrels, strike a flint, and run like old Typhon is still alive and chasing me," Ares joked, imagining the bonfire that would be Dahok's temple and cult if he was successful.

"And once we see the explosion, we'll know to find you and return your sword, right?" Cupid caught on, seeing where his uncle was going.

"Actually, I'd prefer if you take me back to one of my temples and then give me my sword back. Just a precaution, but I'd like to be on home turf before resuming my mantle. It's safer for the entire family that way," Ares answered, letting the three of them know he cared about their safety without having to give some sappy declaration that would make his sister useless for at least a half hour.

"So we just protect your sword; that's it?" Hephaestus queried, confused about the relative simplicity of Ares plan.

"Not quite. Once I'm mortal, I need you to find Xena. Tell her the plan, and make sure she knows I'm human. She'll protect you three and the sword. She's seen what happens to mortals when there's no sitting god of war. She won't risk that again," Ares continued, knowing Xena would protect his family and his sword despite the hostility she felt towards him at this point in the timeline. Years from now she would tell him that he had always gotten to her. She wouldn't turn her back on his family and him now. He was certain of it.

"She'll protect us? A mortal will protect us?" Hephaestus huffed indignantly. Deformed he might be but he wasn't helpless. He didn't need a mortal's protection.

"Trust me. There have been times I've needed her protection and Xena has never let me down in that respect," Ares affirmed, letting his brother know the issue wasn't up for discussion.

"Alright, Unc, we'll do it your way," Cupid sighed, understanding the protective instincts a man could have for the woman he loved. He'd nearly turned into a big, green monster permanently, and he was the God of Love. Uncle Ares deserved his moment to shine for Xena. Yeah, Xena would make a cool aunt, assuming they both survived this twisted courtship.

"Yeah, no worries, Bro!" Aphrodite interjected, throwing her arms around Ares in a giant hug. If things went wrong, she could loose him, but she understood that he had to do this. Warrior Babe was distracted with Caesar and needed a swift kick to get her priorities in line. Ares risking himself to save the world would provide that. She seriously doubted Xena would just sit by as Ares had suggested, but then this was something the two of them could do together. Every couple needed these kinds of activities. Okay, maybe not these activities specifically, but stuff they could do together and were good at. If the stakes weren't so high, it could be kinda romantic.

Once Ares had disengaged his sentimental sister and drained his power into his sword, he fought off the urge to take them back. His prior leaps of faith had all revolved around Xena, but now he was trusting his family. That was much harder, but as he'd one day learn from a psychiatrist in Bethesda, therapy wasn't supposed to easy.

Turning towards Hephaestus, Ares handed over his sword to the divine blacksmith, then climbed onto the cart that was loaded with greek fire and covered by a tarp to hide the barrels, before slowly making his way down the hill towards the temple. The sleep-deprived Romans would think he was a merchant making a very late delivery under orders from his new Roman masters, until it was too late for them to do anything but gurgle on their own blood.

Now that Ares was on his way, free from his family and headed towards this new, unknown fate, his mind drifted to Xena and her actions tomorrow morning. They'd see this thing through together, even if she could only see his giving up his godhood after putting her mother in peril and kidnapping the blonde. That was how it usually went, but if he won even a tiny particle of her respect, it would be enough to make his heart sing and this tiny hope buoyed him as he neared the temple of Dahok and all the danger the ancient dark god posed.


	4. Chapter 4

Authoress' Note: This story begins in late June of 2001, approximately two weeks after 'Soul Possession' and 'Being Ares: The Pilot', which took place on the same day.

P.S. While you have to be familiar with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess to read this story, you don't need as much background on 'Being Erica' to follow along. In that series, Erica Strange, a 31-year-old woman living in Toronto in 2009, undergoes the same time travel therapy featured in this story, in order to learn from her regrets over her past choices. While Erica's doctor is Dr. Tom, the therapist featured in 'Being Ares', Dr. Naadiah, appeared in a handful of 'Being Erica' episodes and was once Dr. Tom's therapist and his mentor during the series. In short, 'Being Erica' lends its premise and a few of its characters, but this is first and foremost a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess fanfic.

 **Being Ares:** **The Vague-Ares of Fate**

 **Part** **4**

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

As Dr. Arthur followed his Valkyrie escort through the hallways of Valhalla, he tried not to look like an ogling tourist. Ever since he was a small boy on the reservation, he'd always been drawn to the Greco-Roman and Norse mythologies. His own peoples' stories were filled with wise animals and relatable adventures, but for lessons with showy, opulent displays of power, you had to look to the European traditions, and for any ordinary boy, showy and opulent beat wise and relatable every time. It wasn't until he was in his late twenties that he'd delved into his own heritage a bit more, but by then he was in therapy and examining much of his history.

Seating himself on the marble bench outside of two ornately detailed doors, as he'd been instructed to do by the young, blonde woman in silver armor who'd just gone in to announce him, Arthur reviewed his mission. He needed Hercules to back down with his hardball investigation of Ares, but he couldn't reveal anything about Ares' therapy, or even that the god of war was in therapy. While Dr. Arthur conceded that the demigod had a right to know what happened to his beloved nephew, he wasn't entitled to make Ares' life unmanageable with no evidence that his half brother was in any way connected to the disappearance.

What's more, his decades of experience told him that incident was just the tip of a much larger, nastier iceberg. These two surviving sons of Zeus were trapped in a destructive pattern, and since it required both of them to continue, Dr. Arthur knew Hercules had to be due for a change in his life along with his half brother. This routine between them was leading Hercules to deny himself the space to make that necessary transformation as much as it was denying Ares. The hero's need for change might not yet feel as urgent as it did for Ares, but it was no less real, and in the long run would cause the him no less suffering.

What shape the next chapter of their relationship took, no one could foresee, and Dr. Arthur seriously doubted it would be loving or peaceful. But that both brothers needed there to be a new chapter begun, he was as sure as he was that the sky was blue and zebras had stripes.

The sound of his name being called questioningly brought Arthur out of his thoughts with a jolt. Looking up, the older therapist nearly jumped out of his skin a second time. He'd known she wouldn't have aged, but her radiance still stunned him. "Grinhilda?!"

"Arthur! When Sigrun mentioned you were here, I nearly fell out of my chair! How long has it been?!" Grinhilda questioned, her eyes still not believing he was here. They had parted on good terms, but rarely spoke, much less visited. Still, they had shared an adventure that wouldn't soon be forgotten and so long as the Indigenous Canadian man lived , he'd hold a special place in Grinhilda's heart.

"Almost two decades. You look just the same. I don't, but you do. I mean I knew you would, but seeing it with my own eyes.. wow, how do you do it?" Arthur stumbled, completely overtaken by the difference between them. Though managing to age well, he'd grown old. He admitted it, and what's more, he was grateful for every part of the cycle of life, but the difference here was daunting. So much for not appearing the rube.

"Well, Odin's love keeps me young, both literally and figuratively. But I'm guessing neither Odin, nor my lack of decay, brought you here to Valhalla, especially after all these years," Grinhilda surmised, genuinely curious as to why Arthur had shown up on her doorstep so many years since they'd last seen one another.

Sighing lightly at the truth of that statement, Dr. Arthur looked Grinhilda in the eyes once again before speaking. "You're right, although it is wonderful to see you. However, I need to get in contact with the Greek demigod, Hercules, and I was hoping you could point me in the right direction."

"Hercules? It's funny you should mention him, because we spoke only a week ago and.. this is about his missing nephew, the one that's disappeared but nobody else remembers, isn't it?!" Grinhilda deduced, finally putting the pieces together. Though she knew relatively little about Arthur's methods, she'd been well versed in time travel by Odin over the centuries. If this Evander that Hercules loved so deeply had been killed in the past, then this timeline they were all living in would never bring him back to the hero, no matter how hard he searched. Hercules remembering Evander at all was confusing, but from the look on Arthur's face, the demigod's knowledge wasn't news to the old therapist. He understood what was going on and wanted to help Hercules. That was Arthur in a nutshell, and it was the reason Grinhilda had come to trust him and his radical brand of therapy. His purpose was the same as the Valkyrie's own; he helped people who desperately needed help.

"Yes, but it's a bit more complicated than just locating one missing man, which is why I need to speak with Hercules personally. This can't be done by proxy," Dr. Arthur explained, needing Grinhilda to understand that he wouldn't divulge any information without meeting Hercules first.

Grinhilda sighed with acceptance. She knew Arthur and his people had their way, their processes and protocols, and that there was little to no chance she'd get him to tell her anything without Hercules present. As she'd learned long ago, his work was vital for humanity if it was to continue to thrive, so what could she do other than arrange a meeting. Motioning for Arthur to follow her into her office, Grinhilda stalked over to her desk and picked up the phone. "Alright. We'll do it your way. I'll call Hercules."

"Thank you," sighed Dr. Arthur, knowing he was on his way to resolving this situation. Now he just had to figure out how he was going to convince the world's greatest hero that there was nothing to save here and that he needed to turn to grieving if he was to move forward.

"Caesar has my mother!" Xena gasped, as Gabrielle's hand immediately found her back in a comforting gesture.

"His men captured me and Krafstar, and about twenty minutes after we were brought to his tent, Ares made some sort of deal to trade Cyrene for me," Gabrielle explained gently, knowing this situation had to be hard for her.

"So if I don't destroy that temple like he wants me to, my mother is as good as dead. This god must really threaten him if he's resorting to blackmail," Xena concluded, believing that she now had a handle on Ares plan.

"He threatens Aphrodite as well. She says he's powerful enough to kill gods like Ares, but is trapped in another realm. However, if he gets out, it's game over for all gods, even Gaea." Iolaus informed, remembering how frightened the Goddess of Love was at this god's name and what she'd divulged as a result.

"But if Gaea is ever killed then all life on Earth would be destroyed with her," Xena recited, remembering her grandmother's warning when she'd told all three of her grandchildren the story of how the universe began. While those summers were still some of her happiest memories, and probably always would be, she never thought them of practical use until now.

"Ares said something like that too, that this Dahok was 'the essence of destruction' and that he planned to have humanity kill itself off along with the gods. That's why he needed to return to Britannia as quickly as possible and couldn't waste time arguing over what he'd done with Cyrene," Gabrielle added, knowing Xena needed every scrap of information about this god that she could get.

The need to rescue her mother aside, Xena didn't know what to think. Looking to Hercules to see if he had any more of a clue, she found his own eyes seeking the same from her. If what they were learning about this new god was true, Ares was fighting on the side of the greater good. His methods left much to be desired, but just the fact that he might be telling them the truth, that this Dahok might indeed be a threat to gods and man alike, neither of them knew how to work within that possibility.

"Well, we know Cyrene is definitely in danger, so I say we put aside Ares' involvement for the time being and concentrate on rescuing your mom. We can worry about this Dahok god once we she's safe and sound," Iolaus chimed in, understanding that his friends were all too flummoxed to speak. Time was of the essence and dawn would see a wonderful woman tied to a cross with her legs broken if they didn't act. In all the years he'd spent at Hercules side, Iolaus had learned that it was better to just assume the indifference of the gods to your hardships and rely on your abilities and those of the people around you to see you through. If this new god was a genuine threat, they'd know it soon enough, but Cyrene had to come first.

"I have to agree with your friend, Xena. My men are already prepared to leave in a few hours, so there's no reason to change our plans because of our change in our target," Boudicea added, having come in to hear the end of the conversation. A part of her burned at the idea of wasting good Britannian men to rescue the woman who'd given Xena's life, but what could she do? She needed Xena, and loosing either her best friend or her mother could leave Xena useless in fighting Caesar's invasion force. At least Hercules' arrival and willingness to fight at their side had boosted her warriors' moral. Even here, in the wilds of Britannia, he was a legend beloved by the people.

"Alright. We'll rescue my mother at dawn and then worry about Ares and what he's up to with this Dahok," Xena concluded, giving in to the consensus. Something was wrong here, and Ares.. Ares wasn't himself. But Iolaus was right. Her mother was the priority.

With that resolved, Xena felt the need for fresh air, so she left the tent and started walking through the camp, only stopping when she sensed a presence that was too large to be Gabrielle coming up behind her. Pulling her sword, she spun around and leveled it at the person who had approached her, only to find Hercules, his palms raised in surrender. "Sorry, Hercules."

"No, it was my fault. I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that, but you looked like you to need to talk," Hercules responded, once Xena had sheathed her sword again.

"I do. I just.. I sense something is going on with Ares, and I'm at a loss as to what it could be. Usually his games are well.. games, but this time it seems different somehow, and yet at the same time, it doesn't. I know it sounds crazy, but a few days ago he came to me and tried to manipulate me into destroying that temple and fighting in his name, typical Ares, right? Now he's making bizarre prisoner exchanges with Caesar before running off to fight this destruction god by himself. It's inconsistent; it's not.. him," Xena rambled, trying to square this enormous circle.

While Ares was quite inventive with his methods for trying to win her back, he was also predictable in his motives and his attitude. Now they were both all over the map. The only time he'd ever behaved anything like this was on Sisyphus' island, when he'd suddenly blurted out that he loved her. She'd chalked that up to his having been mortal at the time, but while the declaration might have been a result of his frustration, fear, and mortality, the fact that he'd made it in the first place, that he'd lost control of his words, was just as out of place as his actions now.

Hercules struggled with how much to tell his friend and former love about what Aphrodite had revealed tonight. If his sister was right, it might explain Ares' odd behavior. Perhaps his taking on this god and making the trade with Caesar was his idea of wooing. On the other hand, the demigod could see that Xena genuinely had no clue what was going on and obviously didn't share his half brother's feelings. The problem lay in telling her. If she chose to confront Ares about Aphrodite's suspicions, they had no way of knowing what the God of War's reaction would be, and that could put a lot of people in danger. On the other hand, ignoring the possibility could do the same thing.

Finally making up his mind that it was better to let Xena know what she might be dealing with, Hercules sighed and spoke. "Before Discord brought us here, Aphrodite mentioned something.. when we told her about Ares heading back to Britannia after making the trade for Cyrene, she said, and I quote 'Oh the stupid, stupid things people do for love. He's going to get himself killed and for what, Warrior Babe and her mom?'. I'm guessing 'Warrior Babe' was meant as a reference to you."

"Oh come on, Hercules! You don't actually believe Ares is in love with me, do you?!" Xena snorted, shocked that her friend would bring the idea up. Aphrodite was the Goddess of Love, and one of the most self-deluded people Xena had ever met, so her coming to that conclusion wasn't hard to figure out, but that the love goddess was able to convince her brother that it was true was far more troubling.

"I'm not saying I believe it, but Ares might, and if he does.. well it would explain a few things," Hercules conceded, knowing how crazy it sounded, and yet it was the only thing that made everything fit into place.

"Oh, he believes it; otherwise he wouldn't have given me this," Hephaestus stated, appearing with his wife and stepson directly in front of Hercules and Xena, brandishing Ares sword clumsily in an attempt to mimic his half brother's moves.

"Hey, hey, be careful! You could hurt or kill someone with that," Hercules chastised, once he'd gotten over the surprise of seeing Ares sword with his other relatives.

Hephaestus scowled at the admonition. He wasn't a child. He was a full grown, married god. "I'm not completely incompetent, you know. With my chains…"

"With chains you're the best, Honey-bear, but Baby Bro is right here; a sword is different and mortals are like.. delicate and easily skewered, well most of them are anyway," Aphrodite added, as she considered Xena's legendary abilities and constitution. Nobody could skewer her.

"So wait, Ares is mortal again, voluntarily? What's going on with him?!" Gabrielle queried, having seen the three gods arrive and come over to hear what was going on.

"He's in love with your best friend and if she won't destroy Dahok's temple and keep him from entering this world and killing everything, Ares feels he's gotta do it himself, you know, to keep Xena safe," Cupid informed Gabrielle, liking her far more than his mother. She was a very cool human and she'd really helped him out twice. Unfortunately, she detested his Uncle Ares and was extremely jealous of her best bud, but otherwise she was cool.

"So he gave you his sword and his powers? How does that help?" Hercules asked, not understanding Ares' logic with this move.

"Ar said that Dahok is so far enough away from this realm that unless one of his big wig priests or priestesses sees or hears something, he can't distinguish the actions of one mortal from another. So by becoming mortal, Ar can do his warrior stuff, take out Caesar's men at the temple, and then blow it up tomorrow morning. That way all of Old Spiny's followers will be inside when the place goes boom, and it will take centuries for him to regain the ground he's lost, if he ever does," Aphrodite explained, keen to demonstrate her intelligence to people who'd appreciate it. Yes, the strategy had been her brother's but she understood what he was trying to accomplish all on her own.

"He's going to blow up the temple with Krafstar and his people inside? We have to stop him!" Gabrielle jumped in, worried for the man she was beginning to see as a friend. Maybe his god was evil, but she didn't believe Krafstar was.

Xena sighed, knowing her best friend was not going to want to hear this. She wasn't completely sure she believed Aphrodite and the other gods about this Dahok, but if they were telling the truth, then Krafstar might have to be sacrificed in order to save the world. "I know Krafstar is your friend, but if…"

"He's a good man, Xena! If this god is as bad as they're saying, then Krafstar is the victim here! He's being used and we have to help him see he's on the wrong path. And how do we know they're not just using us to rid them of the threat this new god poses?!" Gabrielle argued, standing her ground. Ares' intent aside, Gabrielle could see good in her new friend. If his one god was truly evil, she was certain he didn't know it.

"Threat?! I'll show you threat! How'd you like your next husband to walk on four hooves and chew grass for a living? If Dahok really is as close to this world as Ares believes than we're all in danger, gods and mortals alike, and your new Britannian boy-toy is a demented psycho trying to kill us all!" Aphrodite fumed, getting seriously pissed at how this little fly of a mortal was treating her and her family. Yes, they might be excessive and vain, but the gods had helped humanity become what it was. This Earth was as much their home as it was mankind's, and they had just as much right to protect themselves and be part of this fight.

Hercules sighed, ready to break up another fight. "Aphrodite…"

"No, Bro! I know defending these mortals is like, your thing and all, but Ar is out there risking his life to protect.. everything! He could very well be killed or worse, and all this little turd can do is insult him and throw accusations at us when we're trying to help! _SO_ not cool!" Aphrodite insisted, virtually seething with anger. Mortals could be so blind some times that she had no idea how any of them got anything done at all. That was bad enough, when it was just their lives on the line, but now hers and her family's might hang in the balance as well.

"Alright, you've both made your points. Now I'll make mine. I'm going to go find Ares, while the rest of you head out in the morning with Boudicea and her men to save my mother and Krafstar. Once he's off the cross we can take him back to camp and interrogate him about his god, and he won't be anywhere near the temple if Ares and I do blow it up," Xena commanded, letting them all know the plan she was going to follow. While she understood that Gabrielle cared about Krafstar, Ares wouldn't have gone out of his way to make a trade with Caesar and force her best friend back to Amphipolis if the bard didn't play a bigger role in this than he was letting on. Aphrodite's rendition of Ares' plan had put Xena on solid footing once again. While more of a risk than he usually took, Ares' actions and strategy were sound, which meant so was his mind. That she could work with.

"Um, Ares told us to ask you to protect the sword and to protect us. He didn't say anything about you joining him," Hephaestus interrupted, trying to get the conversation back on track. Now he was getting nervous about the possibility of Dahok's rising and if Ares was right and Xena was their best protection, he didn't want her running off and leaving him and his wife and stepson vulnerable.

"I don't take orders from Ares, but I need to see this temple with my own eyes. If it worries you that much, I suggest you give the sword to Hercules and stick close to him until I return," Xena advised, not willing to entertain the gods' belief in their authority.

"Warrior Babe, Ares sent the sword to you because he trusts you and you alone to keep it safe. No offense, Bro. I love you lots, but I won't betray Ar by handing the thing that defines his power over to someone who despises it and would happily turn it against him. We'll go with you so that Warrior Babe and Ar can beat the truth out of each another and figure out what to do, but we can't give you the sword," Aphrodite admitted, wanting both Xena and Hercules to see that Ares hadn't randomly chosen her to guard the weapon that held all his powers and immortality. Despite her pigheaded refusal to acknowledge her privileged place in the God of War's heart, Xena was still special to him and he was placing an enormous amount of faith in her. By giving Aphrodite, her husband, and her son the job of delivering the sword and his request, Ares had placed just as much faith in them, and the Goddess of Love wasn't going to ignore that fact, even if the rest of them could.

"Fine. Give me the sword. I'll keep it safe," Xena harrumphed, exasperated by the sensibilities of these gods. Still, deep down, she knew Aphrodite had a point; Hercules would use Ares' power against him. Under the right circumstances, she would as well, but right now she could honor the God of War's wishes and sheathed his sword along side her own. Though heavy, Xena knew she'd adjust to the weight before she even left camp, and after patting Gabrielle supportively on the shoulder, she turned and headed off towards the now ominous temple to find some answers of her own. Aphrodite was right about one other thing, getting those answers would probably involve she and Ares beating the truth out of each other; there usually wasn't any other way.

Ares finished loading the last of the three dozen dead Romans onto his cart and stretched his sore muscles. Mortality hurt like a b*tch, but pain seemed the only way to accomplish anything as one of them. He'd once.. twice now.. asked Xena how mortals got from day to day like this, but the second time he'd asked, he already knew the answer. He'd learned as a farmer that their lives were filled with pain almost every moment of the day. It was no wonder they clung to the tiny shreds of happiness the Fates granted them.

Then again, his own existence had held little joy, which was probably why he'd never really found a way to fit in on Olympus. Even before he'd been mortal the first time, he'd experienced too much misery to be like most gods, yet becoming mortal had done nothing to fix his situation. It was probably why he'd readily accepted Xena's plan to get him back home when love started leaving the world. Admittedly the pain was less as a god, even if it lasted longer.

Before an idle rumination could turn into a brooding session, Ares reflexes kicked in and he crouched down behind his cart, sensing someone approaching his position. A moment later he was flinging the person over his shoulder and reaching for his new, mortal sword to make the kill, only to have a gorgeous, tanned leg kick the weapon from his grip and causing his heart to race at his near mistake. "Xena, don't sneak up in me like that! I may be mortal at the moment, but I still have all my training; I might have killed you!"

"Yeah, right," Xena commented as she stood, trekked over to Ares fallen weapon, and flipped it in his direction with the tip of her boot.

Chuckling as he caught his new sword, his heart surfed a wave of emotion. His eyes found hers and he cursed his fate. When he couldn't stop time, he had her by his side like this, sparing and joking and sharing the comradery of elite warriors in each other's company. When he was a god and able to hold a moment with his will, all he got was cold, clipped replies, old grievances aired, and blame for everything connected to his godhood whether he was involved or not. Without realizing what was happening, his mortal mouth took control again. "Why can't we be like this all the time, Xena? Why can't we at least be civil like we are now?"

For the second time since beginning his therapy, Ares saw Xena startled stupid, but he wasn't as aghast as he'd been when he'd blurted out that he loved her back in Sisyphus' booby-trapped castle. Yes, he'd lost control and his heart was on his sleeve, but somehow it didn't feel like the end of the world. He was still embarrassed, but he'd needed to say it. Dr. Naadiah had told him he had a right to his own body and a right to want to be loved. If that was true, then it followed that he also had a right to say what he needed to say and ask the questions he needed to ask. He might not like the answers. Heck, knowing Xena, he wasn't likely to get any answers, but for himself, he had to ask the question and to express his feelings.

"Oh, come off it, Ares! Were you being civil when you tried to get me to kill my mother? Where you being civil when you framed me for killing those four villagers?! When you left me stranded in Tartarus while Callisto was free to rampage around Greece in my body?! You're war, Ares; you've never wanted civility in your entire, miserable life!" Xena shot back once she'd regained her train of thought. Ares was seriously pissing her off today. He might be sane, but he was still out of character and now she felt like she was back to second guessing his actions. He might be working to stop this Dahok, but he still wasn't himself.

"I'm sorry I did all those things. I know you have no idea how sorry I am or what those mistakes have cost.. will cost.. me, but whether you believe it or not, I do want things to be better between us," Ares responded, laying it all on the line. He knew what was coming, and yes, he deserved it, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that he'd gotten it out in the open. He couldn't explain it, but he knew, bone deep, that he had to let her know how he felt irregardless of her reaction. The telling was an end in itself.

"There is no us, Ares! There will never be an us! You need to get that through your thick skull! I'm never going to be your warrior queen or your girlfriend or your temple-destroying avenger or whatever it is you want from me this week, so just.. move on!" Xena returned, completely out of her depth at the moment. This was not her. She wasn't comfortable discussing her own feelings, much less anyone else's, but Ares proclamation was really coming at a bad time. Caesar held her mother hostage, had held Gabrielle hostage until Ares' little prisoner exchange, and planned to spend the next several months decimating Britannia. There were far more important things at stake than a lovelorn god of war's feelings, assuming they were even genuine.

"I've never been able to, not matter how hard I've tried, but it doesn't matter now. What matters is the temple. It needs to be destroyed. This god can't be let into the world, or it will be the end of the world," Ares conceded. While he'd definitely needed that catharsis, her mention of the temple brought him back to the mission at hand. Back on Sisyphus' island, he'd nearly died because he'd not been able to reign in his emotions and the three final warlords had caught the both of them unawares. While Caesar's guards were all Hades' problem now, Dahok and his cult were still his, and whether she liked it or not, Xena's.

"So I've been told by your relatives, but I don't see how my mother figures into this?" Xena asked, strategic curiosity replacing her frustration at his touchy-feely talk a few minutes ago.

"She doesn't; that's the point. Gabrielle is valuable to this cult; your mother isn't. Cyrene was, however, the only hostage Caesar would trade Blondie for. He's the one that wants to hurt you, Xena, not me. But I had to get Gabrielle out of Britannia before all Tartarus broke loose, and that meant making a deal with that.. Roman," Ares informed Xena as he wrenched himself out of her eyes and returned to his previous work, unloading the first of twelve barrels of Greek fire, cracking it open, and dousing the base of the temple and the tall grass surrounding it in preparation for the upcoming barbecue.

Grabbing a barrel herself, Xena pushed herself to keep up with Ares' long strides. She was finally getting somewhere on an explanation, and she wasn't going to let something as mundane as the weight of a full barrel hold her back. "Wait! Wait! What do you mean Gabrielle is useful to this cult; how?"

"Their high priest, that Krafstar guy, was grooming Gabrielle for a sacrifice. He was telling her just what she wanted to hear in order to lure her to one of their ceremonies, where he planned to trick her into killing one of their priestesses. The destruction of a human life along with Blondie's blood innocence would have been all Da.. this god needed to make his move," Ares explained, choosing his words carefully. He'd barely caught himself with Dahok's name. With the two of them so close to his temple, and Caesar's soldiers deaths so fresh, to say it might have drawn the dark god's attention despite his current inability to enter the world. Then he'd have known everything, as would all of his followers. Thankfully Ares was used to gods spying on him, so he knew just how far he could go.

But that experience didn't help him with Xena. There were still questions he couldn't answer, just as there had been on Sisyphus' island. The problem with changing the past was that you knew too much about the future, and too great a change could create too wide a divergence in the timeline. Not for the first time, he had to wonder whether Dr. Naadiah truly understood the risks she was taking in trusting him, War, to run around free in the past.

A cold chill ran along Xena's spine at the mental image of what Ares was describing, and she needed to know the ultimate goal of this new god, or at least the lie the Olympians were selling. "And that would be?"

Ares briefly closed his eyes to figure his next words carefully. They were treading too close to the line of what he could know just by observing from this time to what would require future knowledge to have learned, but Xena would want every scrap he could give her. Making his decision, Ares opened his eyes again. "I can't be 100% sure, but.. look, there are plenty of young men in Britannia who are well trained in self defense, but who haven't lost their blood innocence. If this god just needed a human sacrifice delivered at the hands of an innocent, he'd have freed himself long ago. The fact that this cult waited so long, that this Krafstar chose a woman as young as Gabrielle and invested so much time in brainwashing her, leads me to believe…"

"A child; his power so great that he can't enter the world as himself, so he plans to do so as a baby, Gabrielle's baby!" Xena suddenly realized with horror.

Without saying another word, she spun around and started stalking back to Boudicea's camp, Ares struggling to keep up with her this time. "Yeah, but I sent Gabrielle back to Amphipolis, so she's safe and it will take the cult a while to find a replacement, so all we need to do is destroy the temple…"

"One of your sisters, some goddess named Discord, sent Gabrielle back to Britannia, along with Hercules and Iolaus! They're all at Boudicea's camp, along with several of Krafstar's friends," Xena bluntly cut in, hardening her final words to explain her abruptness and her need to leave. She had to get back to Gabrielle and warn her. She couldn't believe how stupid she'd been. Even if Ares was lying, she'd left Gabrielle to fend for herself ever since she'd learned of Caesar's invasion. She'd abandoned her as a friend, and she had to make up for it.

Getting an idea, she turned swiftly, dodging Ares near impact and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Keep working on your plan with the Greek fire. I'm going to ferret out the truth from a few of this god's followers back at Boudicea's camp. If you're telling the truth, we'll blow this sky high tomorrow, after we save my mother."

Happy to have made his point without giving away his future self, Ares saluted Xena mockingly, letting her know he'd do as she asked, but also reminding her that he wasn't some ordinary soldier who'd take her orders unquestioningly. "Yes, Ma'am."

As Ares watched the love of his existence rush back to Boudicea's camp, he grabbed another barrel and tried to analyze what had just passed between them. He'd gotten through to her, something that had been impossible the first time. Yet, despite that success, she'd still run off to find Hercules to help her. Regardless, they'd connected and managed to get on the same page, which was a step forward.

When he'd detailed the events of this time to Dr. Naadiah back in her office, he'd claimed that he'd given Xena too much discretion over her actions and that she'd disappointed him by not destroying the temple before Gabrielle could be used by Dahok's cult. Only now he realized that what had transpired in Britannia had been partially his fault. He'd been vague with his warnings and arrogantly failed to give her the information she'd needed to see things as they truly were. Yes, he had a right to his privacy, but if he wanted things to change between Xena and himself, he might have to explain things he didn't want to explain. It was a trade off, just as trusting his family had been, but it appeared to be a necessary one if he wanted to make better choices and get more out of life.

He was changing; his relationship with Xena was changing. He had no idea where any of this was going, and yet, he was strangely okay with that. What he wasn't okay with was the remaining nine barrels of Greek fire still on his wagon. Sighing and stretching his neck and back, Ares grabbed another barrel and continued his part of the plan he and Xena were putting together as they went along.


	5. Chapter 5

Authoress' Note: This story begins in late June of 2001, approximately two weeks after 'Soul Possession' and 'Being Ares: The Pilot', which took place on the same day.

P.S. While you have to be familiar with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess to read this story, you don't need as much background on 'Being Erica' to follow along. In that series, Erica Strange, a 31-year-old woman living in Toronto in 2009, undergoes the same time travel therapy featured in this story, in order to learn from her regrets over her past choices. While Erica's doctor is Dr. Tom, the therapist featured in 'Being Ares', Dr. Naadiah, appeared in a handful of 'Being Erica' episodes and was once Dr. Tom's therapist and his mentor during the series. In short, 'Being Erica' lends its premise and a few of its characters, but this is first and foremost a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess fanfic.

 **Being Ares:** **The Vague-Ares of Fate**

 **Part** **5**

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

Dr. Naadiah let herself relax into her office chair as she monitored her patient's time in the ancient past, only the tapping of her pen against her knee betraying any anxiety. Under ordinary circumstances, she'd be pleased as punch at the progress Ares' was making. It usually took many sessions of slow growth for her more tight-lipped patients to learn the art of trust and the sharing of information with those that were worthy of their faith. Ares had hit on this fundamental truth in only two trips into his past, and what made his speedy revelations even more impressive was that it all ran counter to everything his upbringing and most of his life experience had taught him. His work ethic was astounding. Then again, Naadiah had never worked with a patient who had tens of thousands of years of pent up mistakes and regrets fueling him.

Yet all that effort and all that promise could easily be undone when he returned to the future. While Naadiah knew that Hercules had led humanity to a better understanding and appreciation of itself, she couldn't help but wonder at the irony that he might end up denying that same opportunity to his own brother. Their rivalry went beyond human family squabbles due to the nature of their godhoods. Ares was the god of war, while Hercules, though not a full god, was the protector of mankind. They'd always been destined to fight each other. Yet even the bitterest of enemies could draw lines in their conflict and refuse to destroy the other utterly. If Hercules was out for the kill, Dr. Naadiah had no idea what to do.

Just at that moment, the petite therapist was startled by a knock on the door. Looking up to see Dr. Arthur arrive, she smiled, hopeful that the older man might have an update that would give them all some direction. "So, were your contacts helpful?"

"Oh, quite, quite. I've arranged a meeting with Hercules tomorrow night. Hopefully the two of us can get him to see that his crusade against Ares is counterproductive," Dr. Arthur informed his former patient, hoping this would be enough to lift her spirits.

"From what I'm getting off my patient, not an easy task, but..."

Dr. Naadiah's voice suddenly trailed off as she experienced Ares' whoop of glee, watching from a distance as the massive stone edifice in Britannia broke apart in a ball of flame, burning chunks of brick flying everywhere, and the thick, wooden door literally falling off shredded, melting hinges. Even a pacifist like herself had to admit it was a heart-racing site, and the childlike expression on the God of War's face caused her to double over with laughter. Her newest patient was quite a character.

Looking up at the amused expression on Arthur's face, she knew she had to conceptualize what she was seeing. "Oh, it's Ares. He just blew up a temple in Britannia and the excitement and joy on his face.. it was like a watching an eight year old get a pony for his birthday."

"Britannia? The Dahok incident there?" Dr. Arthur questioned, remembering the episode of Xena: Warrior Princess he'd viewed a few weeks back. That was a bit troubling, although admittedly, he should have seen it coming. Part of why this therapy worked was that it allowed patients to learn from their pasts and change minor things that they wish they'd done differently. But unleashing the undiluted, primal force of destruction that was Dahok upon the world or preventing it's natural path wasn't a small thing, and Arthur had no idea what the ramifications would be if too much changed.

"Yes. Ares regretted being so vague with Xena about the threat Dahok posed. He felt that if he'd been more open, more trusting, he could have prevented Gabrielle's rape by convincing Xena to stick close to her friend, and it appears, with Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Cupid, and even Hercules' help, that he was right," Naadiah replied proudly.

"So.. no Hope?" Arthur asked, considering what he was hearing.

"Nope. No Hope. Seems I have a hitherto unknown talent for preventing demigods from being born. Too bad I can't add Jercules' scalp to my belt. Learned that the hard way freeing the Sovereign with Callisto," Ares proclaimed as he arrived back in his therapists office.

"Ares, I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Arthur," Dr. Naadiah announced, coming to stand between the two men and facilitate their meeting. She had no clue how Ares would regard Dr. Arthur's presence. So far, the God of War seemed okay with it, but therapy was amazingly personal and she didn't want his mood to shift suddenly and have her patient kill her mentor.

"Nice to meet you. You Dr. Naadiah's boss?" Ares asked, briefly shaking hands with the older, native man before taking his seat at Dr. Naadiah's desk. The power dynamic was obvious by their body language, and this Arthur's mention of Hope told Ares that the two therapists were discussing his case. Truth was, he wasn't worried about it. Dr. Naadiah comported herself as a professional and she obviously trusted the rotund man in the fedora.

"That's one way of looking at it. I prefer to see myself more as an adviser than a boss, but yes, I do run this program," Dr. Arthur explained, coming to stand beside the desk as Naadiah took her own seat.

"Well, she's definitely doing good work," Ares added, smiling at his therapist. After all she was doing for him, he saw no harm in putting in a good word for her.

"Glad to hear that. We were just talking about what to do in regards to your brother, Hercules' interest in your therapy," Dr. Arthur explained, getting everyone back on track. He appreciated Ares' loyalty, but he and Naadiah had a meeting tomorrow night and Ares had a right to know and offer input.

"Half-brother. But go on," Ares corrected, hating to concede his relationship to Hercules. Zeus had been a rutting beast that liked to pretend he was a real person from time to time, and Hercules was just a byproduct of his lust and his games.

Ares desire to distance the relationship between himself and Hercules would one day need to be confronted, but rather than get drawn off track, Arthur put the issue aside for the moment to address the matter at hand. "I went to see a woman, a Valkyrie, named Grinhilda, whom I've worked with in the past and she…"

"Oh, please tell me you didn't tell her I was in therapy! That woman hates me.. no worse, she views me as a pathetic joke!" Ares spat out in indignation as he let his head fall into his hands, struggling with the anger that was emerging. He knew, deep down, that Dr. Naadiah wasn't out to get him, and he sensed the same from Dr. Arthur, but mortals tended to view the glass as half full and trusted too quickly, not understanding the well of resentment and cruelty that could fill up over centuries.

"Neither Naadiah nor I would ever reveal the identity of a patient or the details of their sessions. All I asked was for Grinhilda to arrange a meeting with Hercules. She surmised that my desire to speak with your bro.. half brother had something to do with your missing son, Evander, but I refused to speak to her suspicions without Hercules present. Naadiah and I are expected at his home tomorrow at seven," Dr. Arthur explained, hoping to calm Naadiah's newest patient before he blew his top. While they could control their office and deflect his powers here to a certain extent, the two therapists were still mortal and all Ares needed was to get his hands on them. With his super-human reflexes, he could snap both of their necks in a less than a second.

"And when Xena puts her pinch on the two of you, you'll both take my secrets to the grave rather than save your own lives?" Ares asked, knowing that no matter what they said now, the pain of having your brain starved of blood and the fear of death would likely compel them to speak. It always did.

Dr. Arthur was taken aback at the God of War's belief that Hercules would have Xena attend their meeting tomorrow and that she'd assault the two of them. "I don't think Hercules would permit…"

"With the possible exception of our sister, Aphrodite, Jercules sees anyone that would consider my interests on any matter as an enemy and Xena trusts his judgment. Dr. Naadiah has given me a hope for the future that I haven't had in millennia, and you seem like a decent guy as well. Grinhilda owes me a favor from when I helped her out with Catherine the Great. I'll call her and ask her to accompany the two of you. Xena respects her enough that she might let you live even if you won't talk. Just don't defend me or antagonize any of them. That's all the excuse they'll need," Ares explained, hoping the two therapists got the message. These two came from a less violent time, and Xena, now fully restored would have a difficult time understanding that.

Dr. Naadiah stood and came round to the front of her desk to look Ares directly in the eyes. She needed him to know that she took his warning at face value, but also that there was a better way to handle the situation. "You know your brother and Xena better than we do, and we'll do as you advise, but there is another way. You could come with us yourself. You could tell them…"

"No. I can't. I can't do that. I don't want any of them to know. It's like what just happened back in Britannia. I trusted Xena with more information this time, and I trusted Dite and the rest with my plans because I had faith that they'd understand and help me. But I never would have considered trusting them with my therapy or the fact that I was time traveling as part of it. I've lied and manipulated all of them many times over. It's what I do. Xena understands this, or at least she did before she died, but regardless, I can't trust her with this. I wouldn't trust Hercules to buy me a beer, much less with this," Ares admitted, adding that last part about his half brother to lighten the heavy mood.

Both Naadiah and Arthur nodded in understanding. Ares knew his family and Xena better than they did and it wasn't surprising that he wanted to keep the flow of information private. Yes, he'd come a long way in just two sessions, but he still had a ways to go, and the two doctors were determined to see him there no matter how long it took. For now the two doctors would abide by the War God's decision. Righting himself and adjusting his belt a bit, Dr. Arthur prepared to leave. "Alright. We have a plan. Grinhilda has my number, so she can call me to make arrangements as to where we should meet before heading to Hercules' house. Now, if the two of you will excuse me, I'll let you get back to your session."

"Thank you," Ares stated, his eyes holding the native man's own. He had never been good with gratitude, and too often people in his life, even those that genuinely cared for him, would go about their business and ignore the mess they left in their wake. These two were working overtime to clean it up themselves, and Ares' profound gratitude needed to be expressed, irregardless of his skill at expressing it.

"You're welcome, Ares," Dr. Arthur replied, shaking the uneasy god's offered hand with pride. Ares was learning, fighting the thoughts and habits he'd accumulated over millennia that were holding him back, and seeing this made all the effort worth it.

Once the older therapist had left Naadiah's office, Ares returned to his seat and refocused himself on the work he and his therapist needed to do. Honestly, the more he thought about it, the more he came to discover that he didn't care how tomorrow night's meeting went, so long as the two therapists were kept safe. He'd made a commitment to them and Dr. Naadiah had made one to him. Jercules and his sanctimonious crew could all be damned, and Ares realized that he had one more card to play once he left Dr. Naadiah's office.

Again he would have to force himself to be explicit, to trust someone whom he believed worthy, without a guarantee, but Ares knew in his heart that she'd do as he asked so long as he didn't jerk her around. His days of being vague were at an end; riddles and games had their place, especially for the God of War, but when it really mattered they were a luxury he couldn't afford. For Naadiah and Arthur, he would be the hero, and maybe one day, Xena would let him be hers.


End file.
